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Born in Saint Columb Minor, Cornwall, England
He was raised in a 14th-century house next door to a graveyard. -
Early Education
William received his early education at the school his father ran, Marlborough Grammar School. When William was just 12 years old, he attempted, unsuccessfully, to write a novel. -
English teacher and philosopher in Bishop Wordsworth’s School in Salisbury
His father hoped he would become a scientist, but William chose to study English literature instead. Golding’s experience teaching would later serve as inspiration for his novel Lord of the Flies. -
World War II experience
Of World War II experiences, Golding has said, “I began to see what people were capable of doing. Anyone who moved through those years without understanding that man produces evil as a bee produces honey, must have been blind or wrong in the head.” -
Royal Navy
While in the Royal Navy, Golding developed a lifelong romance with sailing and the sea. During World War II, he fought battleships at the sinking of the Bismarck, and also fended off submarines and planes. -
Lord of the Flies
The novel told the gripping story of a group of adolescent boys stranded on a deserted island after a plane wreck. Lord of the Flies explored the savage side of human nature as the boys, let loose from the constraints of society, brutally turned against one another in the face of an imagined enemy. -
Death
Golding died of a heart attack in Perranarworthal, Cornwall.While Golding was mainly a novelist, his works also include poetry, plays, essays and short stories. -
Rites of Passage
The mounting tensions on the ancient, sinking warship where officers, sailors, soldiers and emigrants jostle in the cramped spaces below decks.
